Terrence Mcnally Podcast

June 25th NYTimes headline: “2019 might be the year of the protest” - mass demonstrations in Prague, Hong Kong, Russia, Kazakhstan, and the UK. The President of Algeria, the President of Sudan, and Governor of Puerto Rico leave office after protests. What’s going on? Why are nonviolent protests working? And what might that mean for us here in the US where the global climate movement has called for a general strike September 20th? I speak with ERICA CHENOWETH, Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and author of WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict.

CNN did their best to turn presidential debates into Wrestlemania, pitting moderates against progressives, pushing the story that their policies are too bold and will elect Trump. Tuesday night Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren held their ground. With that in mind, here's my 2012 interview with Ralph Nader about his book, The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future, recorded at the time of the Obama-Romney debates. Let’s see how many of his bold ideas are on the table in this campaign?

The documentary FOR SAMA takes us inside the heartbreaking suffering of the people of Aleppo during the long and brutal siege by al Assad and the Russians. Waad al-Kateab began shooting students spraying revolutionary graffiti on university walls. The revolution rises around her – as does the overwhelming response. Best Doc, 2019 Cannes Film Festival and Doc Grand Jury Prize, 2019 SXSW Film Festival. I interview directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, and Dr. Hamza al-Kateab, who ran the last hospital in East Aleppo. Don’t miss this podcast. You will get a unique feel for Syria. Learn more at forsamafilm.com

In the US today, we see how even one person willing to oppose the popular consensus can dictate our nation’s response to climate change. Meanwhile China has leapt into the vacuum created by our retreat. In her provocative new book, Will China Save the Planet?, BARBARA FINAMORE, Senior Attorney and Asia Senior Strategic Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, explores China’s big picture, long-term strategy to seize the leadership of the global response and reap the technological, economic, and political benefits.

We go deep into the archives to bring you my 2002 conversation with THOMAS HOMER DIXON on his insightful and provocative book THE INGENUITY GAP, in which he asks whether we’re going to be able to generate and implement useful ideas fast enough to solve the problems we ourselves are creating. Problems like the surveillance capitalism of Facebook and Google, the jobs we’re losing to robots, and the crisis of climate change. In the book and interview, he said there was still time but the hour was getting late – and that was 17 years ago.

When the three richest Americans have more wealth than the lowest 50%, shareholder capitalism is not working. In EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE: The Radical Tradition that is Shaping the Next Economy, NATHAN SCHNEIDER reminds us of a hopeful alternative – cooperatives - jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprises that advance the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members. Schneider previously wrote a book on the Occupy movement. You can learn more at nathanschneider.info

As the Democratic candidate debates begin, here's my March 2018 conversation with ARLIE HOCHSCHILD. In her book, STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND, based on five years research in Southern Louisiana, she asks, why residents of the nation's second poorest state vote for candidates who resist federal help? Why, when corporations devastate their lives and their land, do they most hate the government? And I ask, how can we come up with a story that can change their minds? Listen to get a sense of what we're up against in 2020.

I’m always interested in what the US can learn from other countries. So I was immediately attracted to JOSHUA GOLDSTEIN’s new book A BRIGHT FUTURE: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow. When Goldstein (and co-author Staffan Qvist) did the research and the math on what it was going to take to reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the worst of climate change, they concluded that rapid development of renewables would need a large and fast buildout of nuclear power to replace fossil fuels as backup for wind and solar. You may not agree with them, but I think this conversation is worth a listen.

This 2003 interview traces the evolution of Dr. Weil’s work and thinking from his earliest understandings of health and healing to his ongoing commitment to train a new generation of physicians. Weil’s definition of integrative medicine: rooted in the connection of medicine with nature and the natural healing potential of the organism, it utilizes the magic of the doctor/patient relationship to treat the whole person. Hyla Cass MD joins the conversation.

The idea of the frontier has been central to American identity. Its image of endless promise fostered our belief in the US as exceptional. Today America has a new symbol: the border wall. As GREG GRANDIN sees it, America’s constant expansion helped deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But the 2008 financial crash and unwinnable wars in the Middle East turned Americans inward, leading to the rise of reactionary populism, racist nationalism, extreme anger, polarization - and Trump.

As the confrontation between House investigators and Donald Trump drags on, as he ignores subpoenas of his financial and tax records, what is he hiding? Here’s my June 2017 conversation with Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist DAVID CAY JOHNSTON. He’s been covering Trump off and on for 28 years, and his book THE MAKING OF DONALD TRUMP profiles how Trump has gotten wealthy bilking others, colluding with criminals, evading prosecution, and romancing the press.

The Republican party games the political system with gerrymandering, voter suppression, and election manipulation. In VOTE FOR US, JOSHUA DOUGLAS writes about the many positive initiatives through which Americans are taking back their democracy, one community at a time - expanding voter eligibility, easing voter registration rules, making voting more convenient, giving redistricting back to the voters, improving civics education, and more. This interview offers warnings, good news, and action steps for 2020.

As the Trump White House claims executive privilege gives them the right to hide the full Mueller report - let’s listen to my 2009 interview with Daniel Ellsberg, whose courageous civil disobedience stood up to Richard Nixon, and led to one of the proudest moments for the Supreme Court, when they declared the first amendment gave the press the right to publish the Pentagon Papers. Will we be so lucky with the current court?

How is that humans can be both the nicest and the nastiest of species? Biological anthropologist RICHARD WRANGHAM wrestles with that question in The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution. Though our capacity for coolly planned and devastating violence remains unrivaled, Wrangham offers a strikingly original theory that capital punishment has been instrumental in humans becoming extremely peaceful in our daily interactions. Can this understanding help us to confront the growing hostility in society?

Thirty years ago, BILL McKIBBEN’s THE END of NATURE was the first popular book about climate change. Since then the effects have exceeded our expectations, while our response has lagged what’s needed. Bill has done his part - with books, articles, and as co-founder of the climate movement 350.org, which has held 20,000 rallies in 182 countries and spearheaded the fight against the XL pipeline and the movement to divest from fossil fuel companies. We talk about the latest findings, warnings, and global activism in his new book FALTER: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? www.billmckibben.com

(1) Ohio Congressman TIM RYAN entered the race last week for the Dems’ 2020 nomination. Here’s our 2012 interview on his book, A MINDFUL NATION: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. (2) In 2009’s RAPT: Attention and the Focused Life, WINIFRED GALLAGHER argues that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Worth paying attention to.

I have complete freedom booking guests, driven by the pursuit of what I term “a world that just might work.” Still, I know that recognizable names mean more clicks, listens, downloads, and shares. This week I defy that knowledge. Over the last 35 years, GEORGE SCIALABBA has written nearly 400 essays and book reviews for everyone from The American Conservative to The Nation. Praised by his peers, including Barbara Ehrenrich, Noam Chomsky, and Thomas Frank, we’ll examine some of the big challenges we face as a society. You can learn more at georgescialabba.net

As the college admissions scandal emphasizes once again the gulf between the wealthy and the rest of us, and the deficit skyrockets due to Trump’s GOP tax cuts for the rich and corporations, here’s my January 2010 conversation with Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett about their groundbreaking book, The Spirit Level. Based on 30 years of research, it makes clear that the more unequal a society is, the worse it is for everybody – rich and poor alike.

Here’s a radical idea: Have we become too focused on climate change? In CLIMATE - A New Story, CHARLES EISENSTEIN calls for a reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ to reverse climate change and heal ecological destruction. If we begin from an understanding that rivers, forests, and creatures are sacred and valuable in their own right, not simply for carbon credits, he believes we can engage meaningful emotional and psychological connections that are bigger and deeper than any policy solution or practice might ever be - and in the process emerge better able to deal with climate and the natural world.

Too often today facts and reality are less important than which narrative you embrace or which stories you believe. My December 2012 conversation with JONAH SACHS, Co-Founder of Free Range - the folks behind The Story of Stuff - and author of UNSAFE THINKING and WINNING THE STORY WARS, offers you a better understanding of how this works and how to use it to your advantage.